March 11, 2008

Now, this isn't life threatening, this surgery Felix will undergo.
And I'm imagining that afterwards his team-mates will do what team-mates do, which is make fun of one another.
He has a twisted testicle.
Should be out 3-5 days (I quote from the TRIB) after, "sewing the outer layer of the testicle to the scrotum wall."
Ouch E Wawa?
No, try Man-Scream.
Felix, if you happen to read this I wish you nothing but a speedy recovery, a liberal dose of a really powerful local anesthetic, and that we all forget about this later when you're the starting center fielder for our Chicago Cubs.

Okay, speaking of surgery, welcome back Mark DeRosa.
I didn't see anything yesterday, but watched most of the Kansas City "game" on Sunday.
Wish I coulda said, "wow! look at those Cub bats!"
But in all fairness you had to be thinking, "man, glad I'm not a Royals fan."
"Stinky" is the word that comes to mind.
There are 20 days til the home opener vs. the Milwaukee Brewers, and today Carlos Z takes the mound.
Go Cubs.

March 10, 2008

I had the good luck to get invited to the Hawks game on Friday night.
Giant Hawks fan Bill Cimino asked a couple of us at work to go.
I had no idea that the night's festivities would include a tribute to Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita, in fact I hadn't even been in a year or two.
Last time I went it got loud when a fight broke out, otherwise it was quiet and dull.
Friday night begins with an introduction to the Stadium Club bar, which is a pretty nice place to start.
And the tribute - all I know is that Bill Wirtz wasn't the best owner, no home games on tv, bad teams, and somewhere along the way he must have gotten in some kind of spat with Hull and Mikita...
I really don't know why two of the most famous faces in Blackhawk history were ostracized, but apparently they were.
So Bill passes away, son Rocky takes over and hires John McDonough away from the Cubs.
McDonough's roots are in marketing - he started with the Cubs in '83, and he's responsible for so many things Cub that it's mind boggling.
You can easily make the argument that he's responsible for making the Cubs such a gigantic brand.
(It certainly wasn't Hector Villanueva or Leon Durham or Keith Moreland.)
Anyway, Rocky and John put the home games on tv, they're gonna figure out a way to play outdoor hockey in Chicago, the young team is truly exciting to watch, and they invite Hull and Mikita back to be sort of ambassadors of the team.
I guarantee they're going to make Chicago a hockey town again.
Maybe this is blasphemy, but these kids Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews are not unlike Hull and Mikita coming up at the same time and being the default leaders of the Hawks at really young ages - all of them started pro hockey at 18 or 19.
Remember in '04 how the Cubs season tix suddenly sold out?
I bet that happens with the Hawks pretty quickly too.
Meanwhile, the game Friday ended with an almost-miracle, but a goal was disallowed and the Hawks lost.
I totally got my share of goosebumps though, and my voicebox is still a mess.
Like the old Stadium, man.
That was fun.

March 08, 2008

Did you see the second inning yesterday?
5 hits, 4 runs, seemed like everybody hit, Pie gets the big 2 RBI single, Lieber lays down a perfect bunt...all while Len and Bob are having a liesurely conversation with Lou in the dugout.
Like they were talking about the weather.
It was so cool.
While Pie is batting, Lou says that what Felix needs to do here is make contact...like that.
It was magic, that hit.
When Lieber comes up, Lou goes, "Should we bunt Lieber, Bob?"
Cool as a cucumber.
Brenly says yes, and Lieber lays down the perfect bunt.
Just beautiful.
It was, for me, the first time I really got to sit and watch the Cubs.
The Cubs look pretty damn good.
And hopefully, everything Lou's planting right now turns into big W's later on...

March 06, 2008

Poor Jose Ceda.
The Cubs were up 1 zip in the 8th, and young Jose comes in, gives up a couple runs.
And the Cubs lose.
The day after Lou said he's sick of losing.
3 days after their last win.
5 days after Lou almost kicked Jason Marquis into another uniform.
I know it's only Spring.
But if I was a Cub, I wouldn't want to lose right about now.
They've done just that 6 out of 8 tries.
If I didn't know any better, I'd predict a Piniellapalooza any day now.
Let's see what's next.

March 05, 2008

What a stud Brett Favre is.
You can read his numbers and stuff everyplace else, I just want to say that.
What a stud.
I absolutely could not stand the guy in the '90's, when people I knew and respected here in Chicago suddenly wore Packer hats.
Nobody had that kind of effect on Chicago like this guy from Green Bay.
Towards the end, even I actually pulled for Favre when they weren't playing the Bears.
But only for Favre.
I'm gonna miss the fun of watching him, but at least I'll be back to normal.
And, you know, go all "BEAR DOWN!" for that Grossman to Marty Booker combo next year.
God.

As for the Cubs...
I'm struggling to not FREAK OUT all the time.
Am I wrong or is there WAY more coverage on spring training this year than any other in the past?
Maybe I'm reading too many blogs.
SORIANO BREAKS A FINGER out a couple days...
noo wait OUT MORE THAN A COUPLE DAYS!
FREAK OUT!
Two days ago, Fukudome COULDN'T HIT!
FREAK OUT!
Then yesterday he HITS ONE OUT AND GOES 3 FOR 3!
So now, HE'S GONNA HIT 40 HOMERS!
OPPOSITE FREAK OUT!
Peter Gammons said Kerry Wood was throwing better than ever.
Then he gets hammered in a game, and HE CAN'T PITCH!
I FREAK OUT!
Steve Stone SIGNS ON TO DO SOX RADIO!
I FREAK OUT!
Pie TWISTS a TESTICLE!
FREAK OUT!
(well, that's a pretty legitimate freak out)

I'm gonna try to be done with the freaking out.
This is (breathe) just (breathe) spring (breathe) training.

March 04, 2008

THIS POST IS PURE SPECULATION. NOTHING HERE IS TRUE. BUT FOR ARGUMENT'S SAKE, LETS CHOOSE A BUYER FOR WRIGLEY FIELD'S NAMING RIGHTS. - LETS PRETEND IT'S COSTCO.
AGAIN, THIS IS A DEMO AND NOTHING MORE - COSTCO HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS EXCEPT AS AN EXAMPLE IN A DEMONSTRATION.
I've put a disclaimer on each illustration in case someone takes it off my site and uses it elsewhere - I'm NOT trying to start a rumor.

Okay then.
I don't know all the issues regarding historical landmark status or the intricacies of what "naming rights" mean in this instance, and I'm not an architectural designer.
I'm just a guy with Adobe Illustrator, and I've been thinking about this alot.
Let's pretend Sam Zell (by the way, you all know what "Zell" rhymes with, right?) has sold the naming rights of Wrigley Field to Costco.
The first possibility is they do nothing to the sign.
They keep it as is and let the news itself be enough for their money, or maybe they add signage inside the park somewhere...

The next possibility would be to modify the sign while staying true to the graphics. Simply move "home of..." to the empty bottom stripe and add their name in the middle.
Of all the probabilities I can think of, this would be my biggest hope:

Next, it gets bad fast. Say they want their real logo on the sign, and maybe have a corporate color scheme of red, white, and blue that they're not willing to compromise (I don't know what their corporate colors are btw).
Remember this is pure conjecture.

Or, they could keep the original sign, but put on some new addition, say "Costco Diamond at..."

Lastly, they just might not care about anything.

I doubt that there's anything we can do but hope for the best.
But honestly, big picture?
I'd much rather see a World Series championship than worry about this.

Cubby-Blue

is an art blog following the Chicago Cubs with cartoons, gifs, animations, and illustrations by me, Tim Souers.
I began the illustrations in 2003 - you can find the links to the 2003 - 2006 seasons below.
2007 - present is in the regular archives.
Feel free to contact me at CubbyDashBlue(at)gmail(dot)com.
Thanks for visiting, and go Cubs.

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